Hebrews 4:11 - Meaning and Application

In this part of the chapter, the apostle ends with a serious warning and then gives strong reasons for it. He first urges believers to keep pressing on, and then he shows why that warning matters so much.

Here is the exhortation: “Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest” (Hebrews 4:11). The goal is spiritual and eternal rest, the rest of grace now and glory later, rest in Christ on earth and with Christ in heaven. The way to that rest is diligent effort. This is the only road to rest, and those who refuse to work now will not rest later.

After faithful labor comes sweet and satisfying rest. In fact, hard work now will make that rest even sweeter when it comes. “The sleep of a laboring person is sweet” (Ecclesiastes 5:12). So we should all agree on this, encourage one another in it, and stir one another up to diligence. It is true friendship to tell fellow Christians, when we see them drifting, to get back to their calling and work earnestly. “Come, let us get to work. Why are we sitting still? Why are we wasting time? Let us labor, because now is our working time, and our rest is still ahead.” Christians should speak this way to themselves and to one another, especially as they see the day drawing near.

The apostle then gives strong motives for this warning. First, he points to the fearful example of those who already died in unbelief. “Lest anyone fall by the same example of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:11). If so many fell before us, our guilt will be greater if we ignore their warning. Their ruin speaks loudly to us. Their lost and restless condition calls out to us not to make ourselves miserable by sinning as they did.

Second, he reminds us of the great help we have in the word of God, which strengthens faith and stirs up diligence so we may reach this rest. “The word of God is living and active” (Hebrews 4:12). This may mean either the eternal Word, Jesus Christ, or the written word of Scripture. The word “living” fits Christ, the Word who was with God and was God (John 1:1), but most understand the verse as speaking of Scripture.

The word of God is living, not dead. It is active in every way, seizing the conscience, cutting a sinner to the heart, and also comforting and healing the wounded soul. Anyone who calls Scripture a dead letter does not understand it. It is as bright and swift as light, and it gives life as well as shows truth. Saints die, sinners die, but God’s word lives. “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flower of the grass. The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever” (1 Peter 1:24-25). God’s word stands even when people and prophets pass away (Zechariah 1:5-6).

It is also powerful. When God applies it by his Spirit, it convicts powerfully, converts powerfully, and comforts powerfully. It can tear down strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4-5), raise the dead in sin, open deaf ears, give sight to the blind, make the mute speak, and help the lame walk. It breaks Satan’s kingdom and sets up Christ’s kingdom in its place.

The word is sharper than any double-edged sword. It cuts both ways. It is the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17), and it is the sword that comes from Christ’s mouth (Revelation 1:16). It goes where no other sword can go and makes a deeper, truer cut. It pierces to the dividing line between soul and spirit, exposing a person’s inward temper and deepest bent. It can turn a proud person humble, and a stubborn person gentle and obedient. It separates sinful habits that have become deeply rooted and almost feel natural to the soul. It cuts off ignorance from the understanding, rebellion from the will, and hatred from the mind, which in its fleshly state is itself at enmity with God. It also reaches the joints and marrow, the most hidden and close parts of the body, showing that it can deal with the lusts of the flesh as well as the lusts of the mind. It can make people willing to bear the pain needed to put sin to death.

The word is also a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart. It uncovers even the most secret thoughts and hidden plans. It shows people the kinds of thoughts they have, how bad those thoughts are, what wrong motives drive them, and what sinful goals they are chasing. It turns a sinner’s inside out and lets him see what is really in his heart. Such a word must surely be a great help to faith and obedience.

Third, the apostle points to the perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ, both in his person and in his office. As to his person, his full knowledge is especially in view: “Nothing in all creation is hidden from his sight” (Hebrews 4:13). This fits what Christ says of himself: “All the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds” (Revelation 2:23). Nothing in creation can be hidden from Christ, because he made all things. And nothing in our own minds and hearts can be hidden from him either, for all those inward motions are open before him with whom we have to do, both as the object of our worship and as the high priest who represents us.

He, by his perfect knowledge, examines the sacrifice we bring to him before it is offered to the Father. In the same way that the high priest inspected sacrificed animals and cut them open to see whether they were sound, so all things are laid open before our great high priest. The one who now examines our sacrifices will one day, as Judge, examine our whole condition. We will have to deal with him as the one who settles our everlasting state. Some read the words as saying that we must give account to him. Christ has a full account of us all. He has taken account of all who believe in him, and he will call all others to account as well. Our accounts are before him.

This perfect knowledge of Christ, and the fact that we must answer to him, should move us to keep going in faith and obedience until he brings all things to completion. The apostle first teaches Christians who their high priest is, what kind of high priest he is, and then reminds them of the duty that follows from that truth.

[1.] We are told what kind of high priest Christ is, in Hebrews 4:14. Since we have such a high priest, he is first a great high priest, much greater than Aaron or any priest in his line. The high priests under the law were seen as great and honored men, but they were only weak pictures and shadows of Christ.

His greatness is shown, first, by the fact that he has passed into the heavens. Under the law, the high priest went once a year out of the people’s sight, within the veil, into the most holy place, where the signs of God’s presence were kept. But Christ has passed into the heavens once for all, to take charge over all things, to send the Spirit to prepare a place for his people, and to intercede for them, meaning to plead their cause before God. He carried out one part of his priesthood on earth when he died for us, and he carries out the other in heaven when he pleads for his people and presents their offerings.

Second, his greatness is shown by his name, Jesus, which means a healer and a Savior. He is of divine nature, the Son of God by eternal generation, meaning he has always been God’s Son. Because of that, he has divine perfection and is able to save completely all who come to God through him.

Third, he is not only a great high priest, but a gracious one, full of mercy, compassion, and sympathy for his people. We do not have a high priest who cannot be moved by our weaknesses, as Hebrews 4:15 says. Though he is so great and so far above us, he is very kind and deeply concerned for us. He is touched by our weaknesses in a way no one else can be, because he himself was tested with all the troubles that belong to our fallen human nature. This was not only so he could make up for our sins, but also so he could sympathize with us.

He is also a sinless high priest. He was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. Satan tempted him, but he came through without sin. We usually meet temptation and feel some shock from it. Even when we do not give in, we often feel ourselves pulled back. But our great high priest came through his battle with the devil clean. The devil could find no sin in him and leave no stain on him. He was also tested severely by the Father. It pleased the Lord to bruise him, and yet he did not sin in thought, word, or deed. He did no violence, and no deceit was found in his mouth. He was holy, harmless, and undefiled, and such a high priest was exactly suited to us.

Having shown us what our high priest is like, the apostle then tells us how we should act toward him. First, let us hold fast our profession of faith in him, as Hebrews 4:14 says. Let us never deny him or be ashamed of him before people. Let us hold the doctrines of Christianity in our minds, its life-giving principles in our hearts, its open confession on our lips, and our full obedience to it in our lives.

We should notice several things here. We ought to know the doctrines, principles, and way of life of the Christian faith. Even when we do, we may still be in danger of letting go because of our own sinful hearts, Satan’s temptations, and the pull of this evil world. The greatness of the high priest we confess makes turning away from him especially serious and shameful. It would be the worst folly and the basest ingratitude. Christians must not only begin well, they must continue. Those who endure to the end will be saved, and only they will be.

Second, we should encourage ourselves, by the greatness of our high priest, to come boldly to the throne of grace, as Hebrews 4:16 says. There is a throne of grace set up, a way of worship God has appointed, where he can meet poor sinners with honor and they can come to him with hope, repenting and believing. God could have set up a courtroom of strict justice, giving death, the wages of sin, to everyone brought before it. Instead, he has set up a throne of grace. A throne means authority and calls for reverence, but a throne of grace gives strong encouragement even to the worst sinner. There grace reigns, acting with free favor, power, and kindness.

It is our duty and our good to be often found before this throne of grace, waiting on the Lord in private and public worship. It is good for us to be there. Our purpose in coming should be to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Mercy and grace are what we need, mercy to pardon all our sins and grace to cleanse our souls.

Besides the daily help we need from God, there are some seasons when we will feel his mercy and grace most deeply. We should store up prayers for those times, in seasons of trouble, whether from hardship or success, and especially in the hour of death. Every day we should pray for mercy in our last day. May the Lord grant that we may find mercy from him on that day (2 Timothy 1:18).

When we come to this throne of grace for mercy, we should come with humble freedom and boldness, with freedom of spirit and freedom of speech. We should ask in faith, without doubt. We should come with the Spirit of adoption, as children to a God and Father who has been reconciled to us. We must come with reverence and holy fear, but not with terror and panic. We do not come as people dragged before a court of justice, but as people kindly invited to the place of mercy, where grace reigns and delights to show itself toward us.

Christ’s priestly office, and the kind of high priest he is, should be the ground of our confidence in every approach to the throne of grace. If we had no Mediator, meaning no one to bring us to God, we could not come with boldness, because we are guilty and unclean. Everything we do is stained with sin. We cannot enter God’s presence by ourselves. We must go in the hand of a Mediator, or else our hearts and hopes will fail. We have boldness to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus. He is our Advocate, and while he pleads for his people, he also pleads with the price in his hand, the price by which he purchased everything our souls need or can desire.